Robertson's Flow of the Psalms.

As I told that Ugandan kid, I'm slow and stupid. If you want to meditate (climb in and burrow around) on your union with Christ, that's the book of Psalms. Starting around 2018, I started reading through the Psalms on a monthly basis. A while back I transitioned to a 4 month cycle. So slow. I'm profoundly thankful for this artifact of piety which I share with Jesus.

I warmly commend to you O. Palmer Robertson's The Flow of the Psalms. It is the single most useful help I've received in understanding the Psalms. What did it teach me? It's a book not simply a collection. So many odd points are surprising structures. It's like watching Sasquatch dance-- conundrum of footprints? Well, at least not some red herring in a ghillie suit that I need to domesticate for these panoramic landscapes I'm filming. A whole lot of stupid and slow convinces me of the work's value.

Get it, buy it, read it. Read the Psalms thus.

Bound at the back of the book is a set of charts, summarizing the structures in that flow. My next read through of the Psalms I will be working to follow the old man's detailed steps. I want to know the seams and bundles and markers intimately-- like a guide in my own back country. The man rescued me from the mere trivia recognition that acrostics are alphabetic. Yes, Psalm 119 has been a stroll through the vivid confusion for me. Leviticus 19 and Ezekiel 1 are my best parallels.

So, those charts are going on the wall over my reading desk, and I've picked up one of those blank interleaved ESV copies of the Psalter. I've made a version of the charts suitable for framing. That's the file available here. Take it, ponder it, go buy the book.

Robertson Flow.pdf

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